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At the same time Rick Campbell was officially signing on the Ottawa RedBlacks’ dotted line Friday morning, the Calgary Stampeders were putting the finishing touches on their expansion draft protected list.

Inside Stamps headquarters at McMahon Stadium, they knew things had changed a little bit when their former defensive co-ordinator bolted for the Nation’s Capital.

But there’s not much they could do.

“I don’t think it will change much,” Stamps GM/head coach John Hufnagel said. “The fact they have a little bit more knowledge now of the players that aren’t protected, it’s going to be an advantage for them.”

Sure, it’s an advantage, but thinking the RedBlacks are somehow privy to information now that they wouldn’t have had before would be severely underestimating GM Marcel Desjardins and the people he put in place last winter.

They’ve been scouring the continent for football players for the majority of 2013, doing their due diligence on everything from NFL camps to CIS games to watching CFL film.

They know what they’re looking for Dec. 16 when the RedBlacks will officially come away with some semblance of a roster at the expansion draft.

It does make things a little more interesting, however, with Campbell steering the ship in Ottawa.

He knows Kevin Glenn.

He knows Drew Tate.

And he’s intimately familiar with all of the defenders Hufnagel & Co. will be forced to expose next Monday.

“It’s an advantage,” Campbell said from Ottawa over the weekend. “People do their homework, though. It’s good to know some people personally when you’re making big decisions. That happens in football every year — it’s different with the expansion draft this year — but with all the free agents it happens every year, even when there’s no expansion draft. The league is pretty small so a lot of coaches talk and know each other and know players, so it’s a help but I don’t think it’s a gamebreaker deal that I worked there.”

The fact their former defensive co-ordinator landed in Ottawa not only makes it a more attractive spot for potential expansion draft selections, but free agents, as well.

Veteran middle linebacker Juwan Simpson is in that boat, as he’s slated to test the open market Feb. 15, along with a host of other key Stamps who toiled on the defensive side of the ball for Campbell over the past two seasons.

“Hopefully, it means I have more options, to be honest,” Simpson said. “I enjoy Calgary. I think Calgary’s a great city, it’s become my second home and, hopefully, I’d love to play there and retire in Calgary. Things don’t always work out the way you want them to or the way you intended them to.

“Who knows if Rick even wants me? He probably got out of there because of me,” Simpson added with a laugh.

Building a football program through free agency isn’t a strategy that’s often exercised, however, and Campbell will likely do it the way it’s been done in Calgary — by finding inexpensive talent in other ways.

“We’re going to rely on the expansion draft first, finding our own players second, and then sprinkling in a couple free agents when that comes up,” Campbell said.

In other words, they’ll form the non-import foundation next Monday, move to secure a group of young Americans over the next few weeks, before bringing in a select group of veterans via free agency.

“We’ve gotta choose the best players, but we know we have to find enough leaders who have played in the CFL before to help along other people that are going to be here that are first-time CFLers,” Campbell said. “We’ll have to find some free agents, obviously, because just of our sheer numbers, but things tend to work out better in football if you build your own team. You need to find your own guys and then sprinkle in some other guys. Most of the good teams in the league, they’ve built their teams by finding their own players and then you sprinkle in a couple free agents that can be difference-makers.”

Calgary Stampeders former DC Rick Campbell takes wealth of knowledge to Ottawa in time for CFL expansion draft

At the same time Rick Campbell was officially signing on the Ottawa RedBlacks’ dotted line Friday morning, the Calgary Stampeders were putting the finishing touches on their expansion draft protected list.

Inside Stamps headquarters at McMahon Stadium, they knew things had changed a little bit when their former defensive co-ordinator bolted for the Nation’s Capital.

But there’s not much they could do.

“I don’t think it will change much,” Stamps GM/head coach John Hufnagel said. “The fact they have a little bit more knowledge now of the players that aren’t protected, it’s going to be an advantage for them.”

Sure, it’s an advantage, but thinking the RedBlacks are somehow privy to information now that they wouldn’t have had before would be severely underestimating GM Marcel Desjardins and the people he put in place last winter.